BBC Confirms: Fake African Penguin Climate Claim ‘Was Misleading’

You may recall the BBC’s news story a couple of months ago, claiming that African penguin populations were declining because of climate change.

The report from South Africa, which then followed, made no mention of climate change at all but instead laid the blame fairly and squarely on overfishing.

This is not an isolated instance of false claims being made about climate change by the BBC. They now seem to be making a habit of it. — Paul Homewood, Not A Lot Of People Know That, 15 December 2018

Here in the UK, we’ve been debating whether to build another runway at Heathrow for about 20 years. But China is planning to build over 200 new airports by the year 2035, almost doubling its current number. Note that the vague INDC submitted by China for the Paris Agreement included the action “To achieve the peaking of carbon dioxide emissions around 2030”. How that is consistent with 200 new airports by 2035 isn’t clear. —Paul Matthews, Climate Scepticism, 12 December 2018

Back in 2015, we at the Global Warming Policy Forum were much amused to observe that the headlines that emerged from the COPs each year had developed a certain similarity. We noted also that some people even reckoned that we were seeing less and less meaningful activity each year, and more and more liturgy and ritual. This year saw the annual jamboree of the global climate establishment congregate at the twenty-fourth COP in Katowice. So, three years on, have we seen any new themes emerging, or has the liturgy had its familiar order: hype, hope, and hysteria? Let’s take a look…  —Global Warming Policy Forum, 17 December 2018

Seemingly overnight, the country became the leading market for renewables. Its massive solar farms alone were said to be transforming world energy. We cheered when China endorsed the United Nations Paris agreement to intensify efforts to combat rising greenhouse gases – even though its commitment was non-binding. Alas, the praise seems to have been a tad premature. As it turns out, the country’s Communist leadership has slammed the brakes on its plans to fight climate change. —The Global And Mail, 13 December 2018

To meet its energy needs, China is aggressively pursuing every means at its disposal except green energy. —Patricia Adams, Financial Post, 12 December 2018

The world has been put on notice that its best efforts so far will fail to halt the devastation of climate change, as countries came to a partial agreement at UN talks that failed to match up to the challenges faced. —The Guardian, 16 December 2018